the media disabilities in improving portrayal increasing and€¦ · this project was funded by the...

Increasing and Improving Portrayal of People with Disabilities in the MediaThis publication has been created with the support of the European

Commission, but does not necessarily reflect its views

Please visit the project website at www.mediaanddisability.org

Increasing and Improving Portrayal of People with Disabilities in the Media

Table of contentsIntroduction 7

Concrete Outcomes 9

National Action Plans 11

"Hidden Audience-50 Million Reasons

to Think outside the Box" 21

Conclusions and Recommendations 31

Annex: List of Project Partners

and Supporting Experts 35

Interesting Links 41

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Introduction

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Why this project?

There is a general perception that people with disabilities, who constitute a 10% of the popula-tion, are clearly underrepresented in mainstream media.

While there are some disability specific programs or advertising campaigns, very rarely people withdisabilities appear in mainstream programs or in mainstream advertising spots.

Moreover, when people with disabilities appear in media, they are portrayed in a stigmatising andstereotyped way, appearing either as superheroes or as objects of pity and compassion.

Very rarely people with disabilities appear in a way which shows that they constitute, as any othergroup in society, a very diverse population group.

Very few people with disabilities work in the media industry which is clearly the best way to mains-tream disability in the media.

How to change this?

The current project seeked to establish cooperation, mainly at national level, between mains-tream media and disability organisations which should initiate a process of change of thecurrent unsatisfactory situation.

The project has developed new and disseminated already existing resources to be put at thedisposal of the mainstream media industry (producers, broadcasters, publicity and communi-cation agencies and others) and disability organisations to show how things can be done in amore respectful but also more attractive way.

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Guide on media & disability

This guide was produced by the Broadcasting and Creative Industries Disability Network(BCIDN) based in London, United Kingdom. It is taken from the collective experience of theNetwork and its members who have been working together to try and improve matters for disa-bled people in broadcasting, film and advertising for the past decade.

The scope of the guide is intended for all broadcasters and producers, including those who workin mainstream programme areas, from news to light entertainment and from drama to docu-mentary. It is not just for programme makers working on specialist disability output. Althoughthe term "programme" makers is used, much of the guide is also relevant to people working onother audio-visual content such as feature films, advertising commercials, non-broadcast videos,pop promos, and interactive multimedia products. Some of the guide is also relevant to commis-sioning editors, human resource managers, technical staff and staff working directly with listenersand viewers.

Training tool

On the basis of the training provided at the two training sessions organised in 2006, a online trai-ning tool has been delivered and is available on the project website.

This training is targeting disability NGOs and is based on the need for disability NGOs to beaware of the objectives to be achieved and of the argumentation to be used when dealing with themainstream audiovisual industry.

The tool covers the following areas:

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The project was supported by a number of experts from media, advertising and disabilityNGOs with profound knowledge in this rather new field of expertise.

Action plans have been developed by the project partners in 9 different countries (Denmark,Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK) which were based on a coo-perative approach.

Who supported the project and who coordinated it?

This project was funded by the Disability Unit of the DG Employment, Social Affairs andEqual Opportunities through a call for proposals launched in 2005.

The project started in early 2006 and finished at the end of 2007.

The project has been coordinated by Fundación ONCE (Spain) in partnership with 12 otherorganisations (see list of project partners) from 9 different countries.

Actions at European level

A project steering group was established which included all project partners and supporting experts.This steering group held a total of 5 meetings throughout the project lifetime.

Two training sessions were organised by the supporting experts in order to provide the nationalpartners with a clear argumentation and examples of good practice to be used when approachingthe mainstream media industry.

Contacts were established with the European media networks (EBU, ACT and EACA) and withthe European Disability Forum. While open to explore future co-operation, it was clear that thisis not a priority issue at this stage for their national members, something which should start tochange thanks to the work done by this project at national level.

Increasingand Improving Portrayal of People

Disabilities in the Mediawith

Concrete Outcomes

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National Action Plans

The information provided in this section is just a summary of the main actions undertaken ineach of the 9 countries.

To find the more detailed country reports, please visit the project website.

Hungary. National partner: MEOSZ

A working group was established at the beginning of the project including mainstream TV andradio as well as disability NGOs and disability specific media.

A monitoring of media portrayal in written press has been undertaken and was presented in thenational seminar.

Lobbying activity was done to influence new legislation on electronic media services, which ledto useful contacts with the media monitoring bodies.

A national training seminar was organised for disability NGOs on 20th July 2007.

A national seminar on media and disability was organised on 20 November 2007. The mainconclusions of this seminar were:

Quality of disability portrayal in the media depends on the approach of the society and mediaexperts towards disabled persons. It is very important that media representatives (from thehigh management to the employees) connect disability issue with human dignity and humanrights. If this approach has been accepted by them their disability related programs wouldimprove.

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- The history of attitudes to disabled people

- The stereotypes of disability common in the moving image

- Media Guidance on avoiding stereotypes

- How to and how not to portray disabled people on television

The tool has been produced by Disability Equality in Education (DEE).

There are a number of tools which have been produced at national level and which can be foundon the project website.



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good will but rather a lack of knowledge and imagination… These clips brought to the participants’minds that television should deal with creativity and passion. This can be a more important point forTV makers than any legislation.

The involvement and cooperation with the Federal Commissioner for the Concerns of People withdisabilities in this was a big success. This cooperation with a governmental office and the opportunityto use her offices for our seminar surely helped to raise attention for the project and seems to open upfurther cooperation in this field in the future.

The comment made by Ewan Marshall from the BBC is worth to be remembered and shows the com-plexity of the task ahead: "However much you talk about things, how much you give somebody disa-bility awareness, if they don’t have an incentive to do it, they won’t do it. And particularly somethinglike disability which is treated like a problem. (…) And in a very big organisation, however much youkind of set up structures and schemes, there is a lot of ways bypassing them…"

Italy. National partner: CND

A national working group was established which has been in charge of all the different actions.

The first area of work was internal, as it was realised that the approach used by many disabilityNGOs when communicating and contacting media was not the right one. A significant action in

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Disability equality training for media representatives is essential and very urgent in the future. Disabilityorganisations will take the lead in related future initiatives. Media representatives welcomed the initiative.

The good contacts established with the public TV and with one of the mainstream radios, whichhas disabled employees, will continue and the initial contacts with the Hungarian AdvertisingAgency and representatives of commercial TVs will be further pursued.

Germany. National partner: abm

The Düsseldorf Seminar for disability NGOs held in October 2006 offered a deep insight into theworkings of editorial departments (regional/local news and TV drama) of TV broadcasters, their needsand their way of thinking.

It was remarkable that strategies of an improved participation in the production process itself was noton the agenda of disability NGOs.

This was contrasted by the need for good stories and images from the side of the TV editors/produ-cers present. They also made clear that media are not closed institutions but are open to the concernsof their audience.

The Berlin Seminar held in June 2007 was probably the first event where delegates from seven of tenpublic broadcasters plus guests from Swedish TV and a TV production company met in order to hearabout and discuss the subject of people with disabilities in the media.

It proved a successful strategy to give the participants rather a feeling of an exchange of ideas and infor-mation than of giving a lecture. The seminar offered a lot of space for discussion and reflection. Speechesfrom various experts gave a multifaceted introduction into the subject.

But a couple of film clips which showed examples of best practice were probably the best argumentsfor the inclusion of people with disabilities in mainstream TV.

This was a strong reminder that public TV is expected to cover all aspects of society – a fact that mostTV makers are or should be aware of – and all of them want to make exciting programmes that peo-ple like to watch. Maybe sometimes the exclusion of people with disabilities is not so much a lack of



Panel at the Italian seminar.

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Sweden. National partner: HSO

The main action was the national seminar that attracted about 140 persons. Most of them fromPublic Service companies. Eight parallell workshops with different hosts made it possible for peo-ple to mix, meet and be active in finding new ways to improve media portrayal. The day endedwith the Swedish minister of media and culture, the three CEOs for public service broadcastingand the chairman of the Swedish Disability Federation discussing media and disability.

This co-operation has led to written cooperation agreements with two out of three public servicebroadcasting companies, with action points for 2008.

Other actions which have benefitted from the Europen project, but have been financed separa-tely have been:

- Digital storytelling. People with disabilities learn about media by producing short personalstories. The films are distributed through the project "Room for storytelling" at UR, theSwedish Educational Broadcasting company website.

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this respect has been the establishment of the empowerment agency, which focuses on themainstreaming of disability in media. Moreover, a seminar was organised on October 6th 2007in Rome on this issue.

An important initiative has been the establishment of the observatory on media and disabi-lity, a joint initiative between CND and the IULM, the University of Languages andCommunication of Milan.

Another important area of work was to influence what finally has become the new contractservice between the RAI and the Ministry of Communication. Thanks to the lobbying workof the CND, the final text includes the following reference:

"RAI, in reiterating its commitment to production and programming in strict respect of theantidiscrimination principle written in the UN Convention on the Human Rights of Personswith Disabilities, in the Amsterdam Treaty and in the resolutions of the Madrid EuropeanForum of persons with disabilities, dedicate a particular attention in the cultural promotionfor the inclusion of person with disabilities, and overcoming handicap, removing any discri-mination in the presence of disabled people in entertainment programs, information, fictionand productions".

CND also managed to ensure that a representative from the Italian disability NGOs becameone of the 12 members of the new RAI Permanent Commission on social programming.

The national seminar for media was organised in Turin on October 23 2007.

Another relevant initiative was the LEDHA SPOT FESTIVAL which focused on disabilityadvertisement.

The Observatory on media and disability, the empowerment agency and the presence in theRAI Permanent Commission on social programming are all actions and results which willensure a continuous focus by CND on this important area of work.



Interview with SwedishCulture Minister at

national seminar.

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As a result of this event, 3 beneficiaries have started regularly contributing to BBC Ouch!, themost popular disability website in the UK. A further beneficiary has taken up a job with themagazine Disability Now.

Media training for disability NGOs

The aim of this event was to provide employment specialists from disability NGOs with thetraining to more effectively deal with the media.

Poland. National partner: Integracja

A Programme Council was established bringing together representatives from TV, radio,journalists and disability organisations.

On September 2006 a training on media for disability NGOs was organised.

In March 2007, a conference targeting mainly mainstream media and advertising industry washeld, which was well received by all participants.

Other actions undertaken include:

- Training for students in the Faculty of Journalism.

- Competition "open eyes" which is a competition targeting journalists and addresses anaudience of 3000 participants.

- Co-operation with the Association of Advertising Agencies resulted in a TV programmeon the image of disabled people.

- The competition "Man without barriers" which had a great media impact and the greatgala of integration which included a section on the best publication concerning disabledpeople.

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- Media training for disability organisations.

- Disability in advertising: A group of students at the most important school for adverti-sing in Sweden have worked with a project on portrayal of persons with disabilities inadvertising from January to end of May 2007. The assignment was to raise awarenessamong commissioners and producers in the advertising industry. The proposed cam-paign was presented at an exposition for the advertising industry in May 2007. It gai-ned a prize for second best of student campaigns.

- A leaflet has been produced for the advertising industry with translation of the EACA guidelines.

- Monitoring tool for broadcasters. A tool has been developed to monitor portrayal used by thebroadcasters themselves on a regular basis. A pilot study has been done and a report from theUniversity of Lund was ready in December 2007. Swedish television will decide about furtherdevelopment in 2008.

In terms of future actions:

- The written agreements with the public television are followed up continously and new agre-ements will be promoted.

- A national seminar will be held in October 2008, promoted by one of the public servicebroadcasters.

- A seminar is planned with public sector communication officers to try to make them thinkabout portrayal of people with disabilities when commissioning campaigns.

UK. National partner: RNIB

A number of meetings was held with different stakeholders in the media industry, including themedia unions and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.

Make it Happen…in the Media

The aim of this event was to promote careers in the media to young disabled students andgraduates. Workshops were held on careers in television, film, advertising and journalism.



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Spain. National partner: Fundación ONCE

The main outcome was the establishment in March 2007 of a Support Committee for Peoplewith Disabilities in the Audiovisual Sector, comprising all relevant stakeholders (TV, producers,advertising agencies, advertisers, journalists and disability organisations. When establishing thisCommittee which includes 18 different organisations, a Manifesto was also signed, which included

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Slovenia. National partner: NSIOS

The start of the project coincided with the establishment of theProgramme Committee for Programmes for the Disabled peoplewithin RTV Slovenia.

Two documents were produced by this Programme Committee,one on guidelines on inclusion and an action plan for the inclu-sion of disability issues.

Moreover, the new Programming Standards of RTV Sloveniainclude a specific wording on disabled people following a pro-posal made by NSIOS. It says: "to stimulate creativity of disa-bled people and other disadvantaged groups, with the mea-sure to include disability issues in a proportional quantity incomparison to 10% of disabled people in Slovene society.

The National seminar on media and disability was held inDecember 2007 targeting disability NGOs and mainstreammedia.

Another action undertaken with the support of NSIOS has beenthe establishment of the Disability Homepage at the web pageof RTV Slovenia.

Plans for the future include:

- Training seminars with the University of Ljubljana for journalism students and with theEducation Board of RTV Slovenia in order to include disability in the training of journa-lists, editors and programme producers.

- Submission of a project to the European Social Fund which will, among others, focus on theprovision of employment for persons with disabilities in the media sector.



Participants at Slovenian seminar.

Opening session of Spanishseminar with Secretary ofState of Communication.

Roundtable session at Spanish seminar.

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"Hidden Audience-50Million Reasons to Thinkoutside the Box"

On December 7th 2007, the end of project conference was held in Brussels, bringing together a hun-dred participants from 25 countries, representing both mainstream media and disability organisations.

Opening session

The opening session included two distinguished guests: Wallis Goelen, the Head of the DisabilityUnit of the DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal opportunities of the European Commissionand Yannis Vardakastanis, the President of the European Disability Forum.

The main elements of the intervention by Mrs Goelen were:

- Society's perception of disabled people is often coloured by prejudice, fear, low expectationsand distrust in their abilities. The most severe barrier preventing disabled people from par-ticipating fully in society is the attitude of society itself.

- Attitudinal change can be influenced and accelerated, in particular, through increasing thevisibility and realistic portrayal of disability in the media.

- Disabled people need to appear in advertisements, on screen, on radio, and in print to rein-force a paradigm shift in the perception of disability and of disabled people: real attitudinalchange by all members of society can then become a reality.

- Without detriment to their freedom of expression, the media and advertising industries asopinion formers and means of shaping values, are invited to contribute to overcoming ste-reotypes of disability and of disabled people in the public perception and to presenting a fairportrayal of people with disabilities.

- This project is very relevant for the Disability Action Plan with regards to the issue of accessto rights and the mainstreaming of disability related issues.

• Respectful treatment of people with disabilities based on their personal dignity and avoidingthe use of stereotypes

• Promote the proportional participation of people with disabilities in the media according totheir representativeness in society

• Promote their labour integration in the media companies

• Promote the accessibility of the audiovisual contents

In October 2007 an event was organised by Fundación ONCE and the Spanish Federation ofJournalism Associations (FAPE) Most of speakers and participants were representatives of theindustry. Main messages were:

- the relevance of people with disabilities as consumers,

- the media should see disabled people and their organisations as an ally to improve reality

- the employment of people with disabilities in the Media.

In February 2006 a meeting was organised with all relevant national disability organisations inorder to discuss and agree a common stand on the portrayal of people with disabilities. DEE expertRichard Rieser was the main speaker at this event and his presentation on the history of imagesof disability and the examples (short films, advertising spots and extracts from movies) generateda very lively discussion.

Direct contacts with advertising agencies and advertisers proved effective.

Agreements have been signed or negotiated with different key stakeholders, including the cinemaacademy and the TV academy.

Future actions include:

- media monitoring to be done by one of Spain’s leading universities.

- to undertake a specific initiative to promote the employment of people with disabilities inthe media sector, which includes agreements with mainstream media training bodies.



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The main elements of the presentation made by the EDFPresident were:

- We all know the impact that media can have on us and onour perception of the world. Developing a close coopera-tion with the media has been a major priority for the EDFsince 2003, a cooperation which started in 2003, duringthe European Congress on Media and Disability that washeld in Athens.

- It was in fact by organising hand in hand with the mediathis successful congress in Athens, that we, disabled peo-ple and media professionals, started to learn from eachother: to see more clearly which were our mutual expec-tations; to show to each other what we had to offer.

- We all agree: disabled people are underrepresented or badlyportrayed on screen and air. They are often ignored as anaudience and as media professionals. Disability is rarely atthe core of high level audience programmes. Many mediaprofessionals believe that disability does not ‘sell’ and whenthey decide to speak about disability, it is often under acharitable or stereotyped approach.

- One could argue that it is our right to be represented in themedia, to work in the broadcasting sector, to access television

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- The TV without Frontier Directive has just been revised and con-tains references to persons with disabilities, both in terms of acces-sibility, but also in terms of protection against discrimination.

- There is an article in the UN Convention on audiovisual mattersand the Member States that will ratify this Convention have theobligation to implement them.

- One conclusion is that TV programmes addressing disability inan adequate manner can help to give a positive image of personswith disabilities and raise awareness about their rights.

- Care should be taken not to give discriminatory treatment to per-sons with disabilities in the TV programmes but also in theCompanies itself.

- These industries need to reflect persons with disabilities internally,employ them by providing equal treatment. That will help alsoto incorporate the right treatment to their images in their pro-grammes and advertisements.



References to persons with disabilities in the revised EU directive on Television withoutFrontiers:

Art 3. C-Member States shall encourage media service providers under their jurisdiction to ensure thattheir services are gradually made accessible to people with a visual or hearing disability.

Article 3e1. Member States shall ensure that audiovisual commercial communications provided by

media service providers under their jurisdiction comply with the following require-ments:

(c) audiovisual commercial communications shall not:

(i) prejudice respect for human dignity;

(ii) include or promote any discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, natio-nality, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation;

Nike campaign.The text insmall letters says: “He missedgold by a hundredth of a second”.

Nike campaign. The text insmall letters says: “It’s hard notto when you’re looking at aworld record holder”.

Opening session with European

Commission and EDF.

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media content and film production; by enrichinguniversity programmes, media studies and trai-ning with disability awareness topics.

- Media has the power and opportunity ofestablishing the "missing connection"between disabled and non disabled peo-ple. It is not a responsibility that we areimposing on media but a challenge thatmedia professionals, and professionals ondisability should and can face together.

Keynote speakers

The first keynote speaker was Geoff Adams-Spink, BBC disa-bility and age correspondent.

His presentation focused on three areas of improvement withinBBC: portrayal, employment and access services.

He informed about BBC accessibility commitments whichinclude subtitling, signing and audio-description, goingbeyond statutory requirements.

On portrayal, the goal is to represent disabledviewers in a way that normalises their dailylives. Contributors are not defined by theirdisability and they are included in mainstre-am programmes, like life-style programmes.

BBC has established on-screen targets for disa-bled contributors across genres and have establisheda database for diverse contributors which is open toindependent producers. Finally, BBC has established, inco-operation with Channel 4, a talent fund for disabled actors.

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and radio. One could demand this right to be respected, asit is expressed in the UN Convention, and as a fundamentalprinciple of equality and non-discrimination.

- We can also defend the business case: there are 50 millionpeople disabled people in the EU, which constitutes ahuge potential audience, currently overlooked by thebroadcasting sector. It is a missed opportunity.

- But I am firmly convinced that besides the rights-basedand the economic arguments, there is a societal one thatcannot any longer be ignored: disabled people are more

and more included in our societies; by fighting fortheir rights to access education, to work, to live

independently, to have a family, they becomepart of a social network that is stronger andwider each day. Disabled people become acti-ve citizens, potential voters, economic agents,consumers. The underestimated audience of50 million people can in fact be multipliedby 4 or 5: the parents of disabled people, their

friends, their colleagues. Interest towardsdisability-related issues increases every day, in all

sectors of society.

- EDF believes in the role of the media to reflect thissocial change, and in its will to contribute to it. We alsothink that it is our task, the task of all disabled people,to show and to give the necessary arguments to themedia, so they can see what it’s in there for them.

- We believe in the role of the European Union to encou-rage this mutual understanding and to sustain this coo-peration. Not only regarding access of disabled peopleto the media, or the employment of disabled people inall media. But also by providing data and encouragingthe exchange of information among media professionalson disability issues; by promoting disability issues in

"The approach by media to disabledpeople is a medical one, to produce pityand compassion. Moreover, the roles ofdisabled people are usually interpre-ted by non disabled people"

"Since the 90s, some disability NGOshave been working to produce morevisibility of disabled people in the mediaand society in general and to raise

awareness on a vision of personswith disabilities which is not

negative."

"I think that there are 3 key words toachieve a higher level of visibility in themedia: employment, commitment andnormalisation. Disabled people them-

selves have a vital role in produ-cing this change."

Elspeth Morrison,BCIDN Associate

Richard Rieser, Director of DEE (UK)

Mia Ahlgren, project coordinatorin HSO (Sweden)

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- There is little employment of disabledpeople in media.

- Media industry does no better than otheremployers.

- Disabled people don’t have great expecta-tions of finding a job in the media industry.

This should change because:

- Workforce composition should reflect the diversity of society

- There is a clear business case for employing disabled peoplein the media.

To produce a change, the following actions seem important:

- To set up work experience schemes and training schemesfor disabled people in the media industry.

- To undertake outreach actions by media to disabled peopleencouraging them to think of the media industry as a pro-fessional option.

- To collect and disseminate successful cases of disabledpeople working in the media industry.

- To foresee accessibility related costs in the general budgetof media.

- To include disabled people in the different trainingschemes organised by media training providers.

The portrayal of disabled people in the media industry was seen as:

- Media are generally not doing well

- It reflects the general approach by society, but obviouslymedia has a great potential for provoking change

He provided several examples of recent programmes and serialswhich included disabled people. He informed that in drama,BBC has established a 1% target for guest characters in series tobe disabled and 2% for disabled extras.

The latest staff survey done by the company shows that 4,4%of staff have disabilities, which proves a massive increase inparticipation.

One of the main reasons for this has been a scheme whichprovides 6 month placements exclusively for disabled people.Last year more than 50% of these people went to permanentjobs. Disability equality training programme is another mainelement in their strategy.

His final thought well deserves special attention: "You won’tcover disability- from a factual or a dramatic perspective – untildisabled people are properly represented in front of and behindthe camera."

He was followed by Elspeth Morrison, BCIDN Associate whopresented a large variety of examples from TV programs,

cinema and advertising to show the different approa-ched that can be used when referring to persons with

disabilities.

Parallel workshops

Participants were split in 4 groups and wereasked to focus on a number of questions relatedto 2 interconnected issues: employment of disa-

bled people in the media and disability portrayalby media.

The current employment of disabled people in the mediaindustry could be described as follows:



"To increase the presence of disabledpeople in the media, we need to givedisabled people the opportunity toproduce their own programs, as

producers, technicians, actors,journalists, etc.."

"The audiovisual sector is a very powerfultool to develop new ways of looking atissues, to change mindsets. We need disa-bled actors to prove their talent and pro-

duce a change in the way of thinkingof media professionals."

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Assumpta Serna, Board member of theEuropean Cinema Academy:

Geoff Adams-Spink,BBC disability and agecorrespondent:

The social work of savings banks.

Nike campaign.The text in small letters says: “You must be playing him in the semi-finals”.

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- There is almost no monitoring on this issue

- Media are afraid of doing it wrong

- Media have wrong assumptions of disabled people

To change this situation:

- Awareness raising of media professionals

- Increase the employment of disabled peoplein the media industry

- Increase co-operation between media and disa-bility organisations.

Panel discussion and closing session

A panel discussion followed, moderated by Peter Radtke (abm) andwhich included Jenny Stevens (UK Employers’ Forum), Ross Biggam(Association of Commercial Television, ACT), Richard Rieser(Disability Education in Equality) and Mia Ahlgren (Swedish DisabilityFederation, HSO). Many of the conclusions of this panel discussioncan be found in the section on Conclusions and Recommendations.

Main speaker in the closing session was Assumpta Serna, one ofSpain’s most international actresses and Board member of theEuropean Cinema Academy. Some of the main messages in hervery inspiring speech were:

The value and weakness of European Cinema isthe diversity of cultures. The value and weaknessof disabled people is the diversity of opinionsand diversity of disabilities. Just like Europe,the same issues, perhaps the same solution.

Disabled actors studying in official and good,private cinema and TV schools will have thepossibility of networking with their fellow actors.In the early years of training the students capacity forlearning and understanding is more open. All the stu-dents are more likely to listen to each other’s points of view.

After training in a team environment integration becomes natural.All of these students, future creators will write lots of good scripts.We will have directors and actors motivated throughout Europeand the world ready to talk about disability with passion andunderstanding.

"I think this has been a very good initia-tive. The way forward is to ensure a

normalized approach to disabledpeople by media."

"Media don’t do more on this because offear of the unknown. However, all expe-riences we have had prove that this is

possible and that people expecta change to happen."

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Ross Biggam, General Manager of the Associationof Commercial Television, the EUnetwork of private TVs

Jenny Stevens, Media and Disability Consultantof the UK Employers’ Forum onDisability

Panel discussion.

Closing session with Assumpta Serna and Geoff Adams-Spink.

30 31

Conclusions andRecommendations

While some mainstream media seem open to improve their record on disability performance,more action and pressure from disability organisations is required in order to keep the agendamoving, and to engage those not yet involved or interested.

Some disability organisations still do not have a vision of media portrayal which goes beyond broad-casting a specialist disability programme. Moreover, they do not have enough knowledge or experti-se about how media actually work in order to engage in infomed dialogue with media professionals.

Progress will not be made on portrayal until disabled people have the chance to work inside mediaorganisations. This means work placement and training opportunities but most of all it means theopportunity for full time employment.

Making progress in this area takes time. Startling results cannot be achieved in 1-2 years.

Progress needs to be based on a constructive approach based on mutual respect between mediaand disability organisations. At present few media organisations appear to be in contact with disa-bled people or with disability organisations.

The work to be done by disability NGOs to influence the way media portray people with disabi-lities has to be seen different from the usual communication work.

Recommendations for disability organisations

Disability organisations willing to take a lead on this issue require training to be able to be effectivein their work. They need to be aware of the different types of arguments to be used (commercial,ethical, democratic), what drives negative images and attitudes and how to counter these in por-trayal and of examples of good practice.

Results will come from public European TV. This will ins-pire other TV networks. The trend will be towards qua-lity programming, showing different points of view, lis-tening to minorities and asking the opinion of theaudience…

Sometimes one is unable to see things that are clearas a bell to others. We all have an infirmity, a clockthat doesn’t work at times, something that we feelwe must overcome. This equality with disabledpeople is, I think, one of the messages we shouldpass on to the younger generations. We are notthat different after all… We are all original, uni-que… If we can look and listen without judge-ment we can see faces, bodies, thoughts and atti-tudes as infinite worlds of wonder…

Stereotypes come only from ignorance and fear.

Throughout history movements for women’sliberation and gay rights have gone through mul-tiple phases before any acceptance by society.And the fight continues. Forums like todaymake me realize how we are in the middle of aprocess and witnessing a very large movementin each of our respective countries. We have tokeep in touch with each other and keep talkingand listening and know that we still have a lotto learn and change to give to others a bit ofhappiness… Let’s just do it.



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disability organisations and to represent their views and news on the media agenda, especially newsand current affairs.

Establish work experience and placement schemes for disabled people within their companies.

Establish mid term targets for the employment of people with disabilities, as well as for theportrayal of people with disabilities. Survey the existing workforce and output to establish abaseline.

Promote the establishment of a media network or working group on the inclusion people withdisabilities, in order to exchange knowledge and expertise. Disabled staff members should be repre-sented if there are any. If there are enough to form a critical mass then a disabled employee groupcan be helpful.

Undertake disability awareness training for all relevant staff members especially those invol-ved in recruiting/employing staff, and those deciding on content and contributors inprogrammes.

Where no disabled people are employed in production or editing of programmes and the pro-gramme has disability content engaging suitably experienced disabled people as consultants toadvise on the content.

How can public authorities help in this process?

It is very important that public authorities at EU and national level show clearly their interest inthis issue.

A publicly financed fund for work and training placements for people with disabilities in the mediasector would help motivate some media organisations to create such opportunities.

Following the example of the UK, public authorities when committing to public advertising cam-paigns should include in their briefings for advertising agencies a strong recommendation on theinclusion of people with disabilities. This should apply to EC advertising, including recutimentadvertising.

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Specific advocacy needs to be developed for the different sectors: public and private TV, produc-tion companies, advertisers and advertising agencies.

Disability organisations need to be aware that this is a long term initiative which requires a dedi-cated team with media and disability know-how. Adequate and sustainable resources need to beallocated to this.

Find small concrete win-win actions that lead to results that can be evaluated over time, insteadof trying to establish from the start over-ambitious and unrealistic plans.

A strategic approach is required to establish good relations with senior media personnel as wellas with disability champions working in the industry will help improve the chance of progressbeing made.

It is important for disability NGOs to co-operate with research organisations including universi-ties and student studies, to influence future media professionals.

Identify disabled people willing to make a professional career in the media sector. Identify mediaorganisations and professionals who may be willing to giv disabled people a chance. The publicsector is likely to be more readily persuaded than the private sector.

It is important to assemble facts about disability before talking about portrayal and employment.This includes definition of disability and statistics about its incidence. The credibility of thirdparty studies (universisities) must not be undererestimaded.

Start using blogs and other free available tools to allow people with disabilities acquire skills andcreate content.

What can mainstream media do?

Appoint disability focal points within their organisations to promote the employment and portrayalof people with disabilities, as well as accessibility related issues.

Appoint a disability affairs correspondent whose job it is to make links with disabled people and



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Annex: List of ProjectPartners and SupportingExperts

arbeitsgemeinschaft behinderung und medien e.v. (Association for

Disability and Media)

The abm is a non-profit organisation. At the moment it consists of 15 member organisations,mainly selfhelp groups and disability organisations. These members cover a whole range of variousdisabilities.

For more than 20 years, the abm has been a pioneer in producing films on the everyday reality ofpeople with disabilities and reflecting their image in the audiovisual media.

Further permanent or frequent activities for a better representation of people with disabilities inthe media include the educational project OBJEKTIV and the biennial International Short FilmFestival Wie wir leben! / The Way We Live!.

www.abm-medien.de/

BCIDN

The BCIDN was formed by the UK’s leading broadcasters, film and television producers, andaudio-visual industry organisations to increase the inclusion of disabled people in their work.Although competing for audiences, these organisations jointly funded the Network to make iteasier for them to share and deliver best practice across the industry, and to engage with disabledpeople as fellow broadcasters, programme-makers, potential employees, viewers and stakeholders.

The Broadcasters’ and Creative Industries’ Disability Network is a specialist network of the

EU support for the exchange of good practices and resources between mainstream media and disa-bility organisations would be of huge relevance especially for countries where this is a new issue.This could be done within the EU MEDIA initiative and could be led by the European DisabilityForum and should have the support of the different European media networks.

The European Commission could create a website, similar to the UK website Images of Disability,where European mainstream media and disability organisations could obtain relevant informa-tion on this issue.



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provides an important link between agencies, advertisers and the advertising media in Europe andaround the world and participates closely in the setting of standards in many aspects of the busi-ness across Europe.

www.eaca.be

Fundación ONCE

Fundación ONCE is Spain’s largest cross-disability organisation. It was established in 1988 andhas employment and accessibility as its two key objectives. Fundación ONCE is an associate mem-ber of the European Disability Forum (EDF) Fundación ONCE is the project leader.

www.fundaciononce.es

HSO

HSO, the Swedish Disability Federation is the united voice of the Swedish disability movementbefore government, the parliament and national authorities. The federation was founded 1942and consists today of 43 national disability organisations with about 500 000 individual mem-bers. The Swedish Disability Federation is a member of the European Disability Forum (EDF),an umbrella organisation representing about 50 million people with disabilities in Europe.

www.hso.se

MEOSZ

MEOSZ is the national federation of disabled persons’ associations in Hungary founded by grass-roots associations of people with disabilities.

www.meosz.hu/

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Employers’ Forum on Disability. The Forum is an employers’ organisation whose members unders-tand the business rationale for becoming disability confident. They recognize that disability affectstheir employees, potential employees, their customers, and the markets and communities in whichthey operate.

www.employers-forum.co.uk/www/bcidn/

CND

The Consiglio Nazionale sulla Disabilità (CND) is the unitary and independent Italian bodyrepresenting persons with disabilities and their families in European actions and policies

www.cnditalia.it/

Disability Equality in Education (DEE)

DEE is a UK based Disabled Peoples Organisation which provides training, consultancy andresources to promote understanding of disability as a social oppression working throughout theeducation system and the media.

DEE provides its services across Europe and beyond. DEE was instrumental in setting up the 1 in 8Group in 1994 which set out to change employment and training of disabled people in the mainstreammedia. This led to the Raspberry Rippple Awards for 'Good' and 'Bad' portrayal of disabled people.

www.diseed.org.uk/

EACA (European Association of Communication Agencies)

EACA brings together the advertising, media and sales promotions agencies across Europe, ena-bling international experience and issues to be shared and dealt with on a pan-European basis. It



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Stowaryszenie Przviaciol Integracii (Friends of Integration

Association)

Integracja is a Polish non-governmental, non-profit organization. It provides education and infor-mation for people with disabilities. The association leads Information Centre of the People withDisabilities, publishes a bi-monthly magazine, books and leaflets, produces TV programme, andorganizes social campaigns, conferences, exhibitions and concerts.

www.integracja.org

TV-Glad

TV-Glad broadcasts its programmes on various local TV-channels in Denmark. TV-Glad produ-ces and broadcasts 30 minutes daily television. The programmes are broadcasted at day- and night-time and can be seen by approximately 1/3 of the Danish population

Since September 2003, TV-Glad has been broadcasting to large parts of Latin America via sate-llite from Madrid - 30 minutes every fortnight - on the educational channel ATEI.

www.tv-glad.dk

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NSIOS

National Council of Disabled People’s Organisations of Slovenia (NSIOS) is the representativevoice of Slovenian disabled people due to the fact that it unites 15 existing Slovenian representa-tive disabled people’s organisations. This means that more than 98% of all organised disabled peo-ple are members of NSIOS. Members of NSIOS operate within a nation wide network of 230disability societies on local/municipal level.

NSIOS includes all major impairment groups and is the advocate for human rights for disabledpeople in the civil dialogue with public and private stakeholders.

www.nsios.si/

RNIB

RNIB is the UK's largest disability organisation offering information, support and advice to peo-ple with sight problems. Founded in 1868, RNIB has a strong tradition and commitment toimproving the life chances of blind and partially sighted people.

www.rnib.org.uk

Servimedia

Servimedia was established by Fundación ONCE in 1989 with the aim to promote social infor-mation, including about people with disabilities, in the mainstream media. Currently, Servimediahas 100 staff members, 40% of which are people with disabilities. It is considered as the third pressagency in Spain.

www.servimedia.es



Links

http://www.employers-forum.co.uk/www/guests/bdn/index.htm

Broadcasting and Creative Industries Disability Network – a part of Employers Forum – willproduce an online resource for employers- The web site contains inspiring material.

http://www.eaca.be/speechespresentations/detail.asp?sap=3

The European Association of Communications Agencies EACA has links to the European net-work on Media and Disability. They are preparing guidelines for portrayal of people with disa-bilities in advertising based on a speech by president Dominic Lyle.

http://www.imagesofdisability.gov.uk/

See also Images of Disability about advertising produced by the Dept of Work and pension.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/education/teaching/disability/

This education tool produced by the British Film Institute includes many suggested activitiesand lots of examples from the film industry.

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Interesting Links

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http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/ifi/guidance/eo-toolkit/

Office of Communication OfCom, Equal opportunities – a toolkit for broadcasters.

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/tv/reports/portrayal/portrayal.pdf

OfCom yearly content analysisThe representation and portrayal of people with disabilities on ana-logue terrestrial television - Content analysis research report. Link to latest from 2005.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/policies/diversity.shtml

BBC and Disability – a policy.

http://www.channel4.com/corporate/4producers/resources/disability.html

Channel 4 disability directory.

http://www.edf-feph.org

The website of the European Disability Forum keeps you up to date with main developments inEU disability policies.



the media disabilities in improving portrayal increasing and€¦ · this project was funded by the...

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